PREACHING POLITICS

In a republic one of the ways to beat swords into
plowshares is through politics, so there was the Rev.
Christopher A. Bullock, speaking Tuesday at an anti-war
rally in Rodney Square in Wilmington.

Bullock, the pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in the
city, gave a speech that was part Biblical preaching and
part political. So is he.

Bullock is in the midst of deciding whether he wants
to run next year for Delaware's lone seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives, the one that has belonged
since 1992 to Congressman Michael N. Castle, the
Republican who went to Washington after two terms as
governor.

Bullock was in the right place. The rally, attended
by about 150 people, was focused on Castle. There were
banners reading "Rep. Castle, you got us into Iraq, now
get us out" and "Rep. Castle, stand with Delaware, end
the war." There was also an empty chair for Castle, who
did not attend, not with this crowd.

A politician does not need a preacher to know there
is a time for every purpose. The rally was a time to
refrain from embracing Castle. That made it a time for
Castle's silence.

It was also a time for Bullock to speak. "Mr.
President, end the war and end it now, bring the troops
home. Mr. Castle, end the war, bring the troops home.
The Bush-Castle agenda has been one of misguided
policies and misguided priorities," he said.

"We need a change in who represents Delaware in the
House of Representatives. Next year Mike Castle will be
gone. Next year will be the election for peace, the
election for change, the election for opportunity and
the election for hope. No more war, no more war. . . .

"Vote together, children. Pray together, children.
March together, children. No more war, no more war, no
more war. For blessed are the peacemakers."

Bullock is a political work in progress. He has been
a Democrat, a Republican and a Democrat again. He has
been here, gone to Chicago and returned. He was courted
by both parties in 1995 for a state House seat in
Wilmington in a special election but turned each side
down. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a county
office in Chicago in 2002. He was encouraged by the
Delaware Republicans to run for the U.S. Senate last
year but declined.

Now there could be another election year, another
party, another office.

If Bullock wants to run for the Democrats'
congressional nomination, he can expect company. Dennis
Spivack, the party's challenger to Castle in 2006,
intends to try again, declaring, "I'm better prepared as
a candidate, and I'm ready."

The party does not seem to have a favorite -- not
between Spivack, whose 39 percent of the vote fell
meekly below the statewide Democratic registration of 44
percent, or Bullock, who was working for the other side
in the last election. It could be Spivack, Bullock or
somebody else.

Besides, Castle is not the priority for the
Democrats, who are preoccupied with keeping the
governorship despite a primary between Lt. Gov. John C.
Carney Jr. and Treasurer Jack A. Markell and with trying
to take over the majority in the state House of
Representatives. The congressional race can sort itself
out.

No matter the tone of the remarks at the anti-war
rally, Bullock said afterwards he has nothing against
Castle. "Nothing personal against Mike. I've worked with
Mike, but he's wrong on this," Bullock said.

As a potential candidate, Bullock sees no conflict in
straddling church and state. "The same issues that the
African-American community faces on Sunday, we also face
Monday through Saturday. Some of the neighborhoods in
Wilmington, that's homeland security," he said.

"Congress would be an extension of what I'm doing. We
live in our faith but under the law."